Question
Our 13-year-old son is getting in trouble regularly at school, he is constantly arguing/fighting with a class mate he’s had problems with for 3 years. His classmate is very convert in his daily belittling and telling our son he sucks (literally-pardon the language) at everything from basketball at recess, class room work and playing school sports. Our son is frustrated and tired of being put down, he doesn’t feel good about himself and now retaliates explosively. He gets in trouble frequently and is getting blamed for most of the run-ins with this classmate. A couple of his teachers have told us that the class mate is not nice and is good at casting the blame on others. Our son is high energy and impulsive, plays rough and tries to show off but it’s not taken to very kindly at school. He’s tries very hard to fit in. He goes to a private school and we are afraid he may eventually be expelled, he’s already been suspended twice this year. We’ve tried telling him that he’s the only person he can control and not to react to the classmate, but he says he can’t control his anger. He’s also angry at home and verbally lashes out at all of us including his two older brothers. We feel he has very low self-esteem and anxiety. Do you have any suggestions on how we can handle this?
